The five-member girl group, NewJeans, is under fire for the nth time this year, and we are here to tell you why. The group, including Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Hyerin, and Haein, has a total of five members who debuted under ADOR, a Hybe subsidiary, just last year. The group was being talked about a lot even before the debut for a lot of different reasons, including the fact that they are Hybe’s first ever official girl group, and secondly, at the time of their debut, all of the members were minors.
While people were concerned for the girls since they were too young to be thrown into the K-pop world, their debut song, Attention, immediately garnered positive attention and soon became a trend. Since then, the group has released more singles, including songs titled Hype Boy and Cookie. The latter was also considered a controversial song as many thought that the lyrics were not appropriate for minors to be singing.
The group released their first album titled OMG and another single titled Ditto. Despite their countless controversy, the group seems to be the main topic of conversation among many, with many calling them the next Girl’s Generation or believing that they might even take over Blackpink and reach their level of success.
The band is barely a year old, but they have already received sponsorships from popular brands like Coca-Cola, Levi’s, and LG Electronics, among others, and some of the more famous members also have been appointed as ambassadors for several luxury brands. While the group is involved in a lot of different activities outside of music, they are currently prepping for the release of another album, the concept of which got recently released.
The group is facing immense backlash this time as well, as fans questioned the meaning and thought put behind the album’s concept.
NewJeans’ Controversy
The group announced their comeback a few weeks back, and very recently, the official statement released by their label also revealed the exact date of the group’s comeback. With the group all ready to release their song for their fans to stream on July 31st, 2023, the group has slowly started to put out more related content to it.
The album is titled Get Up, and the teaser for their possible title song, ETA, was released on June 25th, 2023. The album is assumed to have a total of three songs, out of which the title track is called ETA. While normally people would assume that it means Estimated Time of Arrival, fans of the group were quick to dissect their teaser, eventually finding several links between different aspects of the teaser and one particular terrorist organization.
While some simply wanted to enjoy the teaser and take it with its surface-level meaning, others called the group’s company and their CEO Min Hee Jin for putting out such a questionable teaser, ruining the comeback for the girls. The teaser is barely thirty seconds long and is pitch dark for the most part, except for in one scene, a car can be seen driving past and fading in the background with the words ETA coming up on the screen right after.
Fans were quick to notice certain links and made several associations between the teaser and a Spanish terrorist organization that was said to have been active till 2018. Many took to their social media to call out the company and mention that another possible meaning for ETA could be the name of the terrorist organization, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, said to have been operating from Basque Country.
In the end, the teaser also mentions the names Eva, Mikel, and Maria alongside NewJeans, and while we do not know the identity of the other three or how they are involved with the group’s new song, a few fans did their research and came prepared letting others know what it actually meant.
Apparently, the leader of the said terrorist organization was named Mikel, Maria was his supposed wife, and lastly, Eva was the name of one of their victims. Fans believe there are way too many connections between the two for it all just to have been a mere coincidence, and they continue to drag ADOR’s CEO, Min Hee Jin, to get her to respond and clear things up.
The company has no official statement regarding the controversy, so many believe that the comeback and its promotions will continue as planned as the controversy continues to keep the spotlight on the group, never mind the fact that it is not all that positive.
Fans continue to await an official response from the company hoping to clear the controversy for the group to be able to enjoy their comeback period happily and without much stress.
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